Favazzo said the fans hung the flag Thursday, and McNabb laughed it off and even left it hanging.

Then the fans returned Saturday and left a cardboard box in the driveway with “Go Cards” written on one side and “Beat Philly” on the other. McNabb laughed that off, too, when he discovered it at about midnight, Favazzo said.

But McNabb stopped laughing when he went outside Saturday morning, smelled diesel fuel and realized someone had burned Cardinals cheers into his lawn, causing about $2,000 in damage.

Favazzo said officers found an address label on the box that had been left, and it led to Chandler resident Rex Perkins, 37, who later admitted to the pranks.

His co-worker, Ryan Hanlon, 28, also admitted to the pranks.

Perkins and Hanlon were fingerprinted, photographed and cited for misdemeanor criminal damage.

“When they decided to get diesel fuel out and start damaging the yard, they crossed the line,” Favazzo said.

The Cardinals beat the Eagles on Sunday in the NFC championship game to advance to the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2